A high concentration of fortified churches may be found in parts of Europe where there was a lot of hand-to-hand warfare, for example in the Dordogne region of France, which was fought over by France and England in medieval times, and in Transylvania, which was the scene of Ottoman invasions. Fortified churches were also built in places controlled by colonial empires, such as the one in the Philippines that served as the scene of the Siege of Baler.

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Although a large number of fortified churches in a variety of styles existed in the lands of Belarus only a handful have survived until the present, the most famous include Christian Orthodox churches in Muravanka and Synkavichy, as well as Catholic fortified churches in Kamai and Ishkold'. In addition to Christian churches Belarus also has the ruins of several fortified synagogues, of which the Chief Synagogue in Bykhaw is most notable.[1]

A rare surviving example of a fortress church used for defensive purposes is the Church of St. Andrew in Kraków, one of the oldest and best-preserved Romanesque buildings in Poland. Located at ul. Grodzka street, it was built by a medieval Polish statesman PalatineSieciech in 1079–1098. St. Andrew was the only Romanesque church in Kraków to withstand the Mongol attack of 1241. Along the lower part of the broader section of its façade are small openings that served as defensive windows during military siege.[3]

1.
Church (building)
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A church building, often simply called a church, is a building used for Christian religious activities, particularly worship services. The term in its sense is most often used by Christians to refer to their religious buildings. In traditional Christian architecture, the church is arranged in the shape of a Christian cross. When viewed from plan view the longest part of a cross is represented by the aisle, towers or domes are often added with the intention of directing the eye of the viewer towards the heavens and inspiring church visitors. The earliest identified Christian church was a church founded between 233 and 256. During the 11th through 14th centuries, a wave of building of cathedrals, a cathedral is a church, usually Roman Catholic, Anglican, Oriental Orthodox or Eastern Orthodox, housing the seat of a bishop. In standard Greek usage, the word ecclesia was retained to signify both a specific edifice of Christian worship, and the overall community of the faithful. This usage was retained in Latin and the languages derived from Latin, as well as in the Celtic languages. In the Germanic and some Slavic languages, the word kyriak-ós/-ē/-ón was adopted instead, in Old English the sequence of derivation started as cirice, then churche, and eventually church in its current pronunciation. German Kirche, Scottish kirk, Russian церковь, etc. are all similarly derived, according to the New Testament, the earliest Christians did not build church buildings. Instead, they gathered in homes or in Jewish worship places like the Second Temple or synagogues, the earliest archeologically identified Christian church is a house church, the Dura-Europos church, founded between 233 and 256. During the 11th through 14th centuries, a wave of building of cathedrals, in addition to being a place of worship, the cathedral or parish church was used by the community in other ways. It could serve as a place for guilds or a hall for banquets. Mystery plays were performed in cathedrals, and cathedrals might also be used for fairs. The church could be used as a place to thresh and store grain, a common architecture for churches is the shape of a cross. These churches also often have a dome or other large vaulted space in the interior to represent or draw attention to the heavens. Other common shapes for churches include a circle, to represent eternity, or an octagon or similar star shape, another common feature is the spire, a tall tower on the west end of the church or over the crossing. The Latin word basilica was used to describe a Roman public building

2.
Battlement
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These gaps are termed crenels, and the act of adding crenels to a previously unbroken parapet is termed crenellation. The solid widths between the crenels are called merlons, a wall with battlements is said to be crenelated or embattled. Battlements on walls have protected walkways behind them, on tower or building tops, the roof is used as the protected fighting platform. The term originated in about the 14th century from the Old French word batailler, the word crenel derives from the ancient French cren, Latin crena, meaning a notch, mortice or other gap cut out often to receive another element or fixing, see also crenation. In medieval England a licence to crenellate granted the permission to fortify their property. The castles in England vastly outnumber the licences to crenellate, royal pardons were obtainable, on the payment of an arbitrarily determined fine, by a person who had fortified without licence. The surviving records of such licences, generally issued by letters patent, there has been academic debate over the purpose of licensing. The view of military-focused historians is that licensing restricted the number of fortifications that could be used against a royal army and they indicated to the observer that the grantee had obtained royal recognition, acknowledgment and compliment. The crown usually did not charge for the granting of such licences, battlements have been used for thousands of years, the earliest known example is in the fortress at Buhen in Egypt. Battlements were used in the walls surrounding Assyrian towns, as shown on bas reliefs from Nimrud, traces of them remain at Mycenae in Greece, and some ancient Greek vases suggest the existence of battlements. The Great Wall of China has battlements, late merlons permitted fire from the first firearms. From the 13th century, the merlons could be connected with wooden shutters that provided added protection when closed, the shutters were designed to be opened to allow shooters to fire against the attackers, and closed during reloading. The Romans used low wooden pinnacles for their first aggeres, in the battlements of Pompeii, additional protection derived from small internal buttresses or spur walls, against which the defender might stand so as to gain complete protection on one side. Loop-holes were frequent in Italian battlements, where the merlon has much greater height, Italian military architects used the so-called Ghibelline or swallowtail battlement, with V-shaped notches in the tops of the merlon, giving a horn-like effect. This would allow the defender to be protected whilst shooting standing fully upright, the normal rectangular merlons were later nicknamed Guelph. In Muslim and African fortifications, the merlons often were rounded, the battlements of the Arabs had a more decorative and varied character, and were continued from the 13th century onwards not so much for defensive purposes as for a crowning feature to the walls. They serve a similar to the cresting found in the Spanish Renaissance. European architects persistently used battlements as a decorative feature throughout the Decorated

3.
Embrasure
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In military architecture, an embrasure is the opening in a crenellation or battlement between the two raised solid portions or merlons, sometimes called a crenel or crenelle. In domestic architecture this refers to the outward splay of a window or arrow slit on the inside, a loophole, arrow loop or arrowslit passes through a solid wall and was originally for use by archers. The purpose of embrasures is to allow weapons to be fired out from the fortification while the remains under cover. The splay of the wall on the inside provides room for the soldier and his equipment, excellent examples of deep embrasures with arrow slits are to be seen at Aigues-Mortes and Château de Coucy, both in France. The etymology of embrasure expresses widening, the invention of the arrowslit is attributed to Archimedes during the siege of Syracuse in 214–212 BC. From Polybiuss The Histories, Archimedes had had the walls pierced with large numbers of loopholes at the height of a man, however, the invention was later forgotten until reintroduced in the 12th century. By the 19th century, a distinction was made between embrasures being used for cannon, and loopholes being used for musketry, in both cases, the opening was normally made wider on the inside of the wall than the outside. A distinction was made between horizontal and vertical embrasures or loopholes, depending on the orientation of the formed in the outside wall. Vertical loopholes—which are much more common—allow the weapon to be raised and lowered in elevation so as to cover a variety of ranges easily. However to sweep from side to side the weapon must bodily move from side to side to pivot around the muzzle, horizontal loopholes, on the other hand, facilitate quick sweeping across the arc in front, but make large adjustments in elevation very difficult. They were usually used in circumstances where the range was very restricted anyway, another variation had both horizontal and vertical slits arranged in the form of a cross, and was called a crosslet loop or an arbalestina since it was principally intended for arbalestiers. A series of perpendicular steps tapering to the gun port ensured that any incoming fire would be stopped by a vertical impact, arrowslit This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. article name needed

4.
Muttenz
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Muttenz is a municipality with a population of approximately 17,000 in the canton of Basel-Country in Switzerland. It is located in the district of Arlesheim and next to the city of Basle, under the Roman Empire a hamlet called Montetum existed, which the Alamanni invaders referred to as Mittenza since the 3rd century CE. At the beginning of the 9th century CE the settlement came into the possession of the bishopric of Strasbourg, in the following centuries various noble families were invested with the fief. Muttenz is first mentioned around 1225-26 as Muttence, in 1277 it was mentioned as Muttenza. Having fallen on hard times the Münch sold the village and the Wartenberg to the city of Basel in 1517, following the Protestant Reformation in Basel by Johannes Oecolampadius the church of Muttenz was reformed in 1529. In 1628 one-seventh of the population,112 persons, died of the plague. Many of the villagers, still subjects of the city of Basel, were poor and beginning in the middle of the 18th century, in 1790 only were the remaining peasants freed from serfdom by a decision of the Great Council of the city of Basel. Following the French Revolution tithes were abolished, after a short civil war between forces of the city and the countryside in 1833 the canton of Basel was divided into the two half-cantons of Basel-City and Basel-Country. Muttenz became part of Basel-Country and remained a peasant village until the beginning of the 20th century, Muttenz has an area, as of 2009, of 16.64 square kilometers. Of this area,2.67 km2 or 16. 0% is used for agricultural purposes, while 6.76 km2 or 40. 6% is forested. Of the rest of the land,6.85 km2 or 41. 2% is settled,0.34 km2 or 2. 0% is either rivers or lakes and 0.01 km2 or 0. 1% is unproductive land. Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 8. 1% of the area while housing and buildings made up 14. 2%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other developed areas made up 1. 7% of the area while parks. Out of the land,38. 9% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1. 7% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land,5. 6% is used for growing crops and 8. 0% is pastures, all the water in the municipality is flowing water. The municipality is located in the Arlesheim district, east of Basel, the old village center was between the Rütihard and Wartenberg hills. The modern housing and industrial section is along the Rhine, the blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Azure, issuant a Castle with three Towers Gules windowed Sable from which a Semi-lion rampant issuant double-queued of the second. Muttenz has a population of 17,709, as of 2008,17. 2% of the population are resident foreign nationals

5.
Switzerland
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Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a federal republic in Europe. It consists of 26 cantons, and the city of Bern is the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in western-Central Europe, and is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland is a country geographically divided between the Alps, the Swiss Plateau and the Jura, spanning an area of 41,285 km2. The establishment of the Old Swiss Confederacy dates to the medieval period, resulting from a series of military successes against Austria. Swiss independence from the Holy Roman Empire was formally recognized in the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. The country has a history of armed neutrality going back to the Reformation, it has not been in a state of war internationally since 1815, nevertheless, it pursues an active foreign policy and is frequently involved in peace-building processes around the world. In addition to being the birthplace of the Red Cross, Switzerland is home to international organisations. On the European level, it is a member of the European Free Trade Association. However, it participates in the Schengen Area and the European Single Market through bilateral treaties, spanning the intersection of Germanic and Romance Europe, Switzerland comprises four main linguistic and cultural regions, German, French, Italian and Romansh. Due to its diversity, Switzerland is known by a variety of native names, Schweiz, Suisse, Svizzera. On coins and stamps, Latin is used instead of the four living languages, Switzerland is one of the most developed countries in the world, with the highest nominal wealth per adult and the eighth-highest per capita gross domestic product according to the IMF. Zürich and Geneva have each been ranked among the top cities in the world in terms of quality of life, with the former ranked second globally, according to Mercer. The English name Switzerland is a compound containing Switzer, a term for the Swiss. The English adjective Swiss is a loan from French Suisse, also in use since the 16th century. The name Switzer is from the Alemannic Schwiizer, in origin an inhabitant of Schwyz and its associated territory, the Swiss began to adopt the name for themselves after the Swabian War of 1499, used alongside the term for Confederates, Eidgenossen, used since the 14th century. The data code for Switzerland, CH, is derived from Latin Confoederatio Helvetica. The toponym Schwyz itself was first attested in 972, as Old High German Suittes, ultimately related to swedan ‘to burn’

6.
Curtain wall (fortification)
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A curtain wall is a defensive wall between two towers of a castle, fortress, or town. In medieval castles, the area surrounded by a curtain wall, the outermost walls with their integrated bastions and wall towers together make up the enceinte or main defensive line enclosing the site. In earlier designs of castle and town, the walls were often built to a considerable height and were fronted by a ditch or moat to make assault difficult. Evidence for curtain walls or a series of walls surrounding a town or fortress can be found in the sources from Assyria. Some notable examples are ancient Lachish and Buhen, enceinte Curry, Anne, Hughes, Michael, eds. The Popular Encyclopedia, or, Conversations Lexicon, I, Glasgow, Edinburgh, and London, Blackie & Son, p.444

7.
Fortified tower
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A fortified tower is one of the defensive structures used in fortifications, such as castles, along with curtain walls. Castle towers can have a variety of different shapes and fulfil different functions, square or rectangular towers are easy to construct and give a good amount of usable internal space. Their disadvantage is that the corners are vulnerable to mining, despite this vulnerability, rectangular towers continued to be used, and Muslim military architecture generally favoured them. Round towers, also called drum towers, are resistant to siege technology such as sappers. The round front is more resistant than the side of a square tower. This principle was understood in antiquity. The horseshoe-shaped tower is a compromise that gives the best of a round, the semicircular side could resist siege engines, while the rectangular part at the back gives internal space and a large fighting platform on top. The large towers at Krak des Chevaliers and the towers at Harlech are good examples. Armenian castles such as Lampron also favoured this style, a common form is the octagonal tower, used in some bergfrieds and at Castel del Monte in Italy. For instance, the keep at Château Gaillard is round, wall towers, also known as mural towers, provide flanking fire to a straight part of the curtain wall. Corner towers enfilade the two adjoining wall faces, if corner towers are far apart, additional flanking towers may be added between them. Towers in a curtain wall are often open at the back. Particularly large towers are often the strongest point of the castle, as the gate is always a vulnerable point of a castle, towers may be built near it to strengthen the defences at this point. In crusader castles, there is often a gate tower, with the passage leading through the base of the tower itself. In European castles, it is common to have flanking towers on either side of the gatehouse. Flanking tower Gate tower Half tower Martello tower Scottish Broch Tower house Witch tower Kennedy, Hugh

8.
Fortress church
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A fortress church is particular type of church that, in addition to its religious functions is also used by the local population as a retreat and defensive position, similar to a refuge castle. A fortress church usually implies that the church is enclosed by its own fortifications, such as curtain walls, by comparison, a church with simple defensive features, such as battlements and embrasures on the church itself, is usually just referred to as a fortified church. The fortress church is surrounded by defensive walls equipped with wall towers. It is a development of the churches, whose defensive walls were also the actual walls of the church. However, the terms are used interchangeably and there is often no clear distinction. However, generally a fortified church is a building, whereas a fortress church is a building complex. In the Early Middle Ages, former bishops seats, especially in recently Christianised regions like Saxony, were designed as fortress churches, there they were referred to as a Domburg or cathedral castle. Fortress churches are common in Franconia, South France and Transylvania. Particularly in Transylvania, a historic German settlement area in Romania, there are well over a hundred fortress churches and they were built and maintained in order to defend against successive Turkish invasions. The fortress churches surviving today date from the 15th century, unlike the populations of towns and cities, villagers did not have the money to build defences around the whole settlement. They were no less vulnerable, however, to the conflicts of their overlords. Large bands of marauders were also a not to be underestimated. The church was often the only building in the village and was. Fortress churches have not survived in North Germany and this is probably because the stone curtain walls were later dismantled in this area, in which there is a scarcity of stone, in order to be re-used for other purposes. The only well-known fortress church in the region is the Church of St. Dionysius in Bremerhaven-Wulsdorf. Peter and Paul was built inside Roman walls that protected it until the 18th century, echter, Würzburg,1983, ISBN 3-429-00818-2 Wolfram Freiherr von Erfa, Wehrkirchen in Oberfranken. Kulmbach,1956 Dirk Höhne, Bemerkungen zur sogenannten Wehrhaftigkeit mittelalterlicher Landkirchen, in, Burgen und Schlösser in Sachsen-Anhalt 12, pp. 119-149 - kritisch u. a. zu H. Müller Dirk Höhne/Christine Kratzke, Die mittelalterliche Dorfkirche in den Neuen Bundesländern II. Norbert Klaus Fuchs, Das Heldburger Land–ein historischer Reiseführer, Verlag Rockstuhl, Bad Langensalza,2013, ISBN 978-3-86777-349-2 Hans u. Berta Luschin, carinthia, Klagenfurt,1985, ISBN 3-85378-237-X Karl Kolb, Wehrkirchen und Kirchenburgen in Franken

9.
Dordogne
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Dordogne is a department in southwestern France, with its prefecture in Périgueux. The department is located in the region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine between the Loire Valley and the Pyrenees, and is named after the great Dordogne river that runs through it and it roughly corresponds with the ancient county of Périgord. The county of Périgord dates back to when the area was inhabited by the Gauls and it was originally home to four tribes, the name for four tribes in the Gaulish language was Petrocore. The area eventually known as the county of Le Périgord. The Petrocores took part in the resistance against Rome, the earliest cluzeaux, artificial caves either above or below ground, can be found throughout the Dordogne. These subterranean refuges and lookout huts were large enough to shelter entire local populations, according to Julius Caesar the Gauls took refuge in these caves during the resistance. After Guienne province was transferred to the English Crown under the Plantagenets following the remarriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine in 1152, the county had been torn apart and, as a consequence, that modeled its physiognomy. During the calmer periods of the late 15th and early 16th centuries, the finest Gothic and Renaissance residences were built in Périgueux, Bergerac and Sarlat. In the countryside, the nobility had the majority of the more than 1200 chateaux, manors, at the time, Bergerac was one of the most powerful Huguenot strongholds, along with La Rochelle. and even Josephine Baker. A number of ruins have retained the memory of the tragedies took place within their walls. Several of the castles and châteaux are open to visitors and some of such as Bourdeilles and Mareuil. Saint-Léon-sur-Vézère, Connezac, Saint-Jean-de-Côle, La Roque-Gageac and many others are real jewels of architecture, as for the old quarters of Périgueux or Bergerac, restored and developed into pedestrian areas, they have regained their former charm. A number of towns, such as Brantôme, Issigeac, Eymet. A special mention should be made in respect to Sarlat. Dordogne is one of the original 83 departments created on 4 March 1790 during the French Revolution and it was included from the former province of Périgord, the county of Périgord. Its borders would continue to change over the subsequent decades, in 1793 the communes of Boisseuilh, Coubjours, Génis, Payzac, Saint-Cyr-les-Champagnes, Saint-Mesmin, Salagnac, Savignac, Saint-Trié and Teillots were transferred from Corrèze to Dordogne. In 1794 Dordogne ceded Cavarc to Lot-et-Garonne, later in 1794 Dordogne gained Parcoul from Charente-Inférieure. Following the restoration, in 1819, the commune of Bonrepos was suppressed and merged with the adjacent commune of Souillac in Lot, but at some stage the victim died, and following a trial four individuals identified as culpable were in turn condemned to die by guillotine

10.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks

11.
England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years

12.
Transylvania
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Transylvania is a historical region located in what is today the central part of Romania. Bound on the east and south by its borders, the Carpathian mountain range. The term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the regions of Crișana, Maramureș. The region of Transylvania is known for the beauty of its Carpathian landscape. It also contains major cities such as Cluj-Napoca, Brașov, Sibiu, in the English-speaking world it has been commonly associated with vampires, due to the influence of Bram Stokers famous novel Dracula and its many film adaptations. Transylvania was first referred to in a Medieval Latin document in 1075 as ultra silvam, Transylvania, with an alternative Latin prepositional prefix, means on the other side of the woods. Hungarian historians claim that the Medieval Latin form Ultrasylvania, later Transylvania, was a translation from the Hungarian form Erdő-elve. That also was used as an name in German überwald. The German name Siebenbürgen means seven fortresses, after the seven Transylvanian Saxons cities in the region and this is also the origin of the regions name in many other languages, such as the Bulgarian Седмиградско, Polish Siedmiogród and the Ukrainian Семигород. The Hungarian form Erdély was first mentioned in the 12th-century Gesta Hungarorum as Erdeuleu or Erdő-elve, the word Erdő means forest in Hungarian, and the word Elve denotes a region in connection with this, similarly to the Hungarian name for Muntenia. Erdel, Erdil, Erdehstan, the Turkish equivalents, or the Romanian Ardeal were borrowed from this form as well, the first known written occurrence of the Romanian name Ardeal appeared in a document in 1432 as Ardeliu. Transylvania has been dominated by different peoples and countries throughout its history. It was once the nucleus of the Kingdom of Dacia, in 106 AD the Roman Empire conquered the territory, systematically exploiting its resources. After the Roman legions withdrew in 271 AD, it was overrun by a succession of tribes, bringing it under the control of the Carpi, Visigoths, Huns, Gepids, Avars. From 9th to 11th century Bulgarians ruled Transylvania, there is an ongoing scholarly debate over the ethnicity of Transylvanias population before the Hungarian conquest. The Magyars conquered much of Central Europe at the end of the 9th century, according to Gesta Hungarorum, Transylvania was ruled by the Vlach voivode Gelou before the Hungarians arrived. The Kingdom of Hungary established a control over Transylvania in 1003. Between 1003 and 1526, Transylvania was a voivodeship in the Kingdom of Hungary, after the Battle of Mohács in 1526, Transylvania became part of the Kingdom of János Szapolyai

13.
Ottoman Empire
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After 1354, the Ottomans crossed into Europe, and with the conquest of the Balkans the Ottoman Beylik was transformed into a transcontinental empire. The Ottomans ended the Byzantine Empire with the 1453 conquest of Constantinople by Mehmed the Conqueror, at the beginning of the 17th century the empire contained 32 provinces and numerous vassal states. Some of these were later absorbed into the Ottoman Empire, while others were granted various types of autonomy during the course of centuries. With Constantinople as its capital and control of lands around the Mediterranean basin, while the empire was once thought to have entered a period of decline following the death of Suleiman the Magnificent, this view is no longer supported by the majority of academic historians. The empire continued to maintain a flexible and strong economy, society, however, during a long period of peace from 1740 to 1768, the Ottoman military system fell behind that of their European rivals, the Habsburg and Russian Empires. While the Empire was able to hold its own during the conflict, it was struggling with internal dissent. Starting before World War I, but growing increasingly common and violent during it, major atrocities were committed by the Ottoman government against the Armenians, Assyrians and Pontic Greeks. The word Ottoman is an anglicisation of the name of Osman I. Osmans name in turn was the Turkish form of the Arabic name ʿUthmān, in Ottoman Turkish, the empire was referred to as Devlet-i ʿAlīye-yi ʿOsmānīye, or alternatively ʿOsmānlı Devleti. In Modern Turkish, it is known as Osmanlı İmparatorluğu or Osmanlı Devleti, the Turkish word for Ottoman originally referred to the tribal followers of Osman in the fourteenth century, and subsequently came to be used to refer to the empires military-administrative elite. In contrast, the term Turk was used to refer to the Anatolian peasant and tribal population, the term Rūmī was also used to refer to Turkish-speakers by the other Muslim peoples of the empire and beyond. In Western Europe, the two names Ottoman Empire and Turkey were often used interchangeably, with Turkey being increasingly favored both in formal and informal situations and this dichotomy was officially ended in 1920–23, when the newly established Ankara-based Turkish government chose Turkey as the sole official name. Most scholarly historians avoid the terms Turkey, Turks, and Turkish when referring to the Ottomans, as the power of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum declined in the 13th century, Anatolia was divided into a patchwork of independent Turkish principalities known as the Anatolian Beyliks. One of these beyliks, in the region of Bithynia on the frontier of the Byzantine Empire, was led by the Turkish tribal leader Osman, osmans early followers consisted both of Turkish tribal groups and Byzantine renegades, many but not all converts to Islam. Osman extended the control of his principality by conquering Byzantine towns along the Sakarya River and it is not well understood how the early Ottomans came to dominate their neighbours, due to the scarcity of the sources which survive from this period. One school of thought which was popular during the twentieth century argued that the Ottomans achieved success by rallying religious warriors to fight for them in the name of Islam, in the century after the death of Osman I, Ottoman rule began to extend over Anatolia and the Balkans. Osmans son, Orhan, captured the northwestern Anatolian city of Bursa in 1326 and this conquest meant the loss of Byzantine control over northwestern Anatolia. The important city of Thessaloniki was captured from the Venetians in 1387, the Ottoman victory at Kosovo in 1389 effectively marked the end of Serbian power in the region, paving the way for Ottoman expansion into Europe

14.
Colonial empire
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The colonial empires began with a race of exploration between the then most advanced maritime powers, Portugal and Spain, during the 15th century. The initial impulse behind these dispersed maritime empires and those that followed was trade, driven by the new ideas, agreements were also made to divide the world up between them in 1479,1493, and 1494. Portugal began establishing the first global network and empire under the leadership of Henry the Navigator. The empire spread throughout a vast number of territories distributed across the globe that are now parts of 60 different sovereign states. Possessions in Europe, Africa, the Atlantic Ocean, the Americas, the Pacific Ocean, subsequent colonial empires included the French, English, Dutch and Japanese empires. Russia today has nine zones, stretching across about half of the worlds longitude. At its height, the British Empire covered a quarter of the Earths land area, during the New Imperialism, Italy and Germany also built their colonial empires in Africa. After the Boxer Rebellion in 1901, Imperial China made concessions to the Eight-Nation Alliance, by the end of the 20th century most of the previous colonial empires had been decolonized. It was also nominal co-trustee of the mandate of Nauru, the remaining non-self-governing New Zealand territory is Tokelau

15.
Siege of Baler
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The Siege of Baler was a battle of the Philippine Revolution and concurrently the Spanish–American War and the Philippine–American War. Filipino revolutionaries laid siege to a fortified church manned by colonial Spanish troops in the town of Baler, Philippines for 11 months, the battle is considered part of the Spanish–American War since the Filipinos were allied with the United States at the outset. That war ended in December 1898 with Spains surrender and annexation of the Philippines to the United States, however, cut off from communications with their own government and military, the Spanish forces continued their defense against the Filipino forces until 1899. Baler, Aurora located on the eastern coast of Luzon, is some 225 kilometers distant from the Philippine capital city of Manila, the Philippine Revolution against Spanish colonial rule started 1896. The Spanish garrisoned Baler, in Sept.1897, with fifty cazadores under Lt. Jose Mota, motas forces were attacked on the night of 4 Oct. by Novicios men, killing Lt. Mota and six other Spaniards, wounding several and capturing 30 Mauser rifles. The initial phase of the Philippine Revolution ended with a truce in 1897, during this phase of the revolution, the Philippines was involved in the Spanish-American War, and the Filipino rebels allied themselves with the American forces. This alliance would end with the outbreak of the Philippine-American War in 1899. On June 1,1898, Morenas began work to dig a well, stock food supplies and ammunition, the church was the only stone building in the area. On June 26, it was noticed that the residents were leaving. On the night of the 30th,800 Filipino troops under Teodorico Luna attacked, the town priest, Candido Gómez Carreño, also quartered himself in the church. The first few days of the siege saw several attempts by the Filipinos to get the Spanish to surrender by leaving letters, on July 8 the Revolutionary Commander, then Cirilo Gómez Ortiz, offered a suspension of hostilities until nightfall, which was accepted. On July 18, Calixto Villacorta took command of the Filipinos and he also sent a warning letter, which was rebuffed. The Spanish had to endure confinement in a small, hot, as the siege progressed, their food supply began to diminish through usage and spoilage. Enemy rifle fire did cause casualties but diseases such as beriberi, dysentery, the first Spaniard to die was Gómez Carreño. In September, Lt. Alonso, and then in November, command fell to Lt. Saturnino Martín Cerezo when Las Morenas died in December. More than once the Spanish made forays to burn nearby houses to deprive the Filipinos of much needed cover, the Filipinos attempted to smoke them out by setting fires beside the church wall but this was repulsed and their timber captured. At the start of the siege, the Spanish had provisions of flour, rice, beans, chickpeas, bacon, canned Australian beef, sardines, wine, sugar, and coffee - but no salt. Supplementing their food supplies, the Spanish foraged for pumpkins, pumpkin leaves, oranges, plantain shoots, various herbs, next Villacorta brought in Spanish civilians and ultimately a uniformed Spanish officer left behind to wrap up Spains affairs on the island, to no avail

16.
Church of St. Michael, Synkavichy
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The Church of St. Michael is situated on the northern outskirts of the village of Synkavichy, Zelva District, Hrodna Province, in Belarus. This church was built in the 16th century and it is an example of the Belarusian Gothic and one of the first fortified churches in Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In 1880-1881, the temple was significantly reconstructed, in 1926, it was rebuilt as a Catholic church. This site was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List on January 30,2004, syncovichskaya church-fortress Photos at Radzima. org Photos at Globus. TUT. by

17.
Fortress synagogue
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A fortress synagogue is a synagogue built to withstand attack while protecting the lives of people sheltering within it. Fortress synagogues first appeared in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 16th century at a time of frequent invasions from the east by Ottoman, Russian and Walachian troops, the Old Synagogue, Przemyśl is a typical example. The region also had fortified churches, of which St. Andrews Church and it has been altered many times since. Walls were thick masonry, with heavy buttressing to withstand assault, like other fortifications, the synagogues were often built on hills. The Husiatyn Synagogue is another example of a surviving, 16th-century fortress synagogue, fortified church – the same concept applied to Christian churches Wooden synagogues of the former Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth – another style of synagogues in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth

18.
Bykhaw
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Bykhaw or Bykhov is a town in the eastern Belarusian voblast of Mahilyow. It is located 44 km south of Mahilyow on the Dnieper River, as of 2009, its population was 17,031. Bykhaw is known for its 17th-century synagogue, during World War II, the German occupation began on July 4,1941. The Jews of Bykhov were killed in two shootings in September and November 1941. According to the German and Soviet archives, there were 4600 Jews from Bykhaw who were shot in Voronino, synagogues Places of interest and photos of Bykhaw on Radzima. org Jewish Encyclopedia site The murder of the Jews of Bykhaw during World War II, at Yad Vashem website

19.
Bavaria
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Bavaria is a free state and one of 16 federal states of Germany. Located in the German southeast with an area of 70,548 square kilometres and its territory comprises roughly a fifth of the total land area of Germany, and, with 12.9 million inhabitants, it is Germanys second most populous state. Munich, Bavarias capital and largest city, is the third largest city in Germany, the Duchy of Bavaria dates back to the year 555. In the 17th century CE, the Duke of Bavaria became a Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Bavaria existed from 1806 to 1918, when Bavaria became a republic. In 1946, the Free State of Bavaria re-organised itself on democratic lines after the Second World War, Bavaria has a unique culture, largely because of the states Catholic majority and conservative traditions. Bavarians have traditionally been proud of their culture, which includes such as Oktoberfest. The state also has the second largest economy among the German states by GDP figures, modern Bavaria also includes parts of the historical regions of Franconia, Upper Palatinate and Swabia. The Bavarians emerged in a north of the Alps, previously inhabited by Celts. The Bavarians spoke Old High German but, unlike other Germanic groups, rather, they seem to have coalesced out of other groups left behind by Roman withdrawal late in the 5th century. These peoples may have included the Celtic Boii, some remaining Romans, Marcomanni, Allemanni, Quadi, Thuringians, Goths, Scirians, Rugians, the name Bavarian means Men of Baia which may indicate Bohemia, the homeland of the Celtic Boii and later of the Marcomanni. They first appear in written sources circa 520, a 17th century Jewish chronicler David Solomon Ganz, citing Cyriacus Spangenberg, claimed that the diocese was named after an ancient Bohemian king, Boiia, in the 14th century BCE. From about 554 to 788, the house of Agilolfing ruled the Duchy of Bavaria and their daughter, Theodelinde, became Queen of the Lombards in northern Italy and Garibald was forced to flee to her when he fell out with his Frankish overlords. Garibalds successor, Tassilo I, tried unsuccessfully to hold the frontier against the expansion of Slavs. Tassilos son Garibald II seems to have achieved a balance of power between 610 and 616, after Garibald II little is known of the Bavarians until Duke Theodo I, whose reign may have begun as early as 680. From 696 onwards he invited churchmen from the west to organize churches and his son, Theudebert, led a decisive Bavarian campaign to intervene in a succession dispute in the Lombard Kingdom in 714, and married his sister Guntrud to the Lombard King Liutprand. At Theodos death the duchy was divided among his sons, at Hugberts death the duchy passed to a distant relative named Odilo, from neighbouring Alemannia. He was defeated near Augsburg in 743 but continued to rule until his death in 748, saint Boniface completed the peoples conversion to Christianity in the early 8th century. Bavaria was in ways affected by the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century

20.
Hesse
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Hesse or Hessia is a federal state of the Federal Republic of Germany, with just over six million inhabitants. The state capital is Wiesbaden, the largest city is Frankfurt am Main, the English name Hesse originates in the Hessian dialects. The variant Hessia comes from the medieval Latin Hassia, the German term Hessen is used by the European Commission because their policy is to leave regional names untranslated. The term Hesse ultimately derives from a Germanic tribe called the Chatti, an inhabitant of Hesse is called a Hessian. The synthetic element hassium, number 108 on the table, is named after the state of Hesse. As early as the Paleolithic period, the Central Hessian region was inhabited, due to the favorable climate of the location, people lived there about 50,000 years ago during the last glacial period, as burial sites show from this era. Finds of paleolitical tools in southern Hesse in Rüsselsheim suggest Pleistocene hunters about 13,000 years ago, the Züschen tomb is a prehistoric burial monument, located between Lohne and Züschen, near Fritzlar, Hesse, Germany. Classified as a grave or a Hessian-Westphalian stone cist, it is one of the most important megalithic monuments in Central Europe. Dating to the fourth millennium BC, it belongs to the Late Neolithic Wartberg culture. An early Celtic presence in what is now Hesse is indicated by a mid-fifth-century BC La Tène style burial uncovered at Glauberg, the region was later settled by the Germanic Chatti tribe around the first century BC, and the name Hesse is a continuation of that tribal name. The ancient Romans had a camp in Dorlar, and in Waldgirmes directly on the eastern outskirts of Wetzlar was a civil settlement under construction. Presumably, the government for the occupied territories of the right bank of Germania was planned at this location. The governor of Germania, at least temporarily, likely had resided here, the settlement appears to have been abandoned by the Romans after the devastating Battle of the Teutoburg Forest failed in the year 9 AD. The Chatti were also involved in the Revolt of the Batavi in 69 AD, Hessia occupies the northwestern part of the modern German state of Hesse, its borders were not clearly delineated. Its geographic center is Fritzlar, it extends in the southeast to Hersfeld on the Fulda river, in the north to past Kassel and up to the rivers Diemel, to the west, it occupies the valleys of the rivers Eder and Lahn. It measured roughly 90 kilometers north-south, and 80 north-west, the area around Fritzlar shows evidence of significant pagan belief from the first century on. Excavations have produced a horse burial and bronze artifacts, a possible religious cult may have centered on a natural spring in Geismar, called Heilgenbron, the name Geismar itself may be derived from that spring. By 650, the Franks were establishing themselves as overlords, which is suggested by evidence of burials

21.
Erlangen
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Erlangen is a Middle Franconian city in Bavaria, Germany. It is located north-west of Nuremberg at the confluence of the river Regnitz and its large tributary, Erlangen has more than 100,000 inhabitants. An event that left its mark on the city was the settlement of Huguenots after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. Felix Kleins Erlangen program of 1872, considering the future of research in mathematics, is so called because Klein then taught at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen was first mentioned in official records in 1002 under the name of Villa Erlangon. In 1361, the village was sold to Emperor/King Charles IV and it became part of the Czech Kingdom. Three years later, a city was close to the village. In 1398, the rights were confirmed by King Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia. In 1402, the city came into the possession of the House of Hohenzollern as part of the Principality of Brandenburg-Kulmbach, in 1810 it became part of the Kingdom of Bavaria, together with the rest of former Brandenburg-Bayreuth. While it was part of Brandenburg-Bayreuth, the first French Huguenot refugees arrived in Erlangen in 1686. Margrave Christian Ernst of Brandenburg-Bayreuth, built a new town for them, in 1706, the old town was almost completely destroyed by a fire, but soon rebuilt. In 1812, the old and new towns were merged into one, only later did it obtain the name of Friedrich-Alexander-University and become a Prussian state university. Famous students of these times were Johann Ludwig Tieck and Wilhelm Heinrich Wackenroder, already during the Bavarian municipal reform of 1818, the city was endowed with its own administration. In 1862, the canton administration Erlangen was founded, from which arose the administrative district of Erlangen. In 1972, this district was merged with the district of Höchstadt. Erlangen became the capital of newly founded district Erlangen-Höchstadt. During this municipal reform, Erlangen was effectively enlarged considerably, thus in 1974 it had more than 100,000 inhabitants. The University of Erlangen-Nuremberg was founded in 1742 by Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth, in the city of Bayreuth, today, it features five faculties, some departments are located in Nuremberg. About 39,000 students study at university, of which about 20,000 are located in Erlangen

22.
Arnstadt
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Arnstadt is a town in Ilm-Kreis, Thuringia, Germany, on the river Feels about 20 kilometres south of Erfurt, the capital of Thuringia. Arnstadt is one of the oldest towns in Thuringia, and has a historic centre with a partially preserved town wall. The town is nicknamed Das Tor zum Thüringer Wald because of its location on the edge of that forest. Arnstadt has a population of some 25,000, the city centre is on the west side of Gera. The municipality comprises four villages, Angelhausen–Oberndorf, Dosdorf–Espenfeld, Rudisleben, the neighbouring municipalities are Wachsenburggemeinde, Kirchheim, Alkersleben, thorn Home, Wipfratal, Plaue and Gossel. In 726, Arnstadt passed to the Abbey of Echternach, according to historian August Beck, in 925 the territories of Henry I were extended as a bulwark against the invading Hungary. In the 12th century a part of Arnstadt fell under the rule of the Counts of Kevernburg, on 8 March 1198 the princes gathered in Arnstadt and elected Philip of Swabia as King of Germany. In 1220 Arnstadt was first described as a civitas, that is, on 21 April 1266, the abbot of the Abbey of Hersfeld granted a charter, thereafter, Arnstadt became a hub for trade in timber, grain, wine and wood. After the extinction of Kevernburger from 1302 to 1306, the counts of Schwarzburg took possession of Arnstadt, attempts by Erfurt 1342 and 1345 to seize what was now a wealthy town failed due to the strong attachment. Arnstadts prosperity was based on the industry, the cloth-making trade, tanneries, and trade in wine, woad, wood, grain, wool. On 30 January 1349, Count Günther XXI of Schwarzburg, an adversary of King Charles IV, was elected and crowned sovereign of Arnstadt in Frankfurt and he renounced this title on 26 May for 20,000 silver marks. A1404 reference was found in 2000 to Bratwurst originating in Arnstadt, in 1496, ownership of Arnstadt was divided into the supremacy Arnstadt and subrule Sondershausen. During the German Peasants War 95 participants in the uprising were beheaded as ringleaders in the Arnstadt marketplace, the city was forced to pay 3000 guilders for supporting the insurgents. In 1531 the Reformation was introduced into Arnstadt, at first, even the Franciscan mendicant was the Benedictine Novodevichy Convent,1538 secularized. From 1581 the Church of Barfüßerklosters was the church of the city. In 1553, work began on the residence, Neideck Castle. The water palace was completed in 1560, since 1306 Arnstadt was ruled by the counts of Schwarzburg, and from the 16th century until 1920 it was part of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen. With the onset of industrialisation, a residential area emerged to the west and south of the old town, during the Second World War, it was the site of a prisoner-of-war camp, mainly for Poles and Russians

23.
Rothenburg ob der Tauber
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Rothenburg ob der Tauber is a town in the district of Ansbach of Mittelfranken, the Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. It is well known for its medieval old town, a destination for tourists from around the world. It is part of the popular Romantic Road through southern Germany, Rothenburg was a Free Imperial City from the late Middle Ages to 1803. The name Rothenburg ob der Tauber means, in German, Red fortress above the Tauber and this is so because the town is located on a plateau overlooking the Tauber River. As to the name Rothenburg, some say it comes from the German words rot and burg, the name may also refer to the process of retting flax for linen production. In 950, the system in today’s castle garden was constructed by the Count of Comburg-Rothenburg. In 1070, the counts of Comburg-Rothenburg, who owned the village of Gebsattel. The counts of the Comburg-Rothenburg dynasty died out in 1116, the last count, Count Heinrich, Emperor Heinrich V appointed instead his nephew Konrad von Hohenstaufen as successor to the Comburg-Rothenburg properties. He held court there and appointed officials called reeves to act as caretakers, in 1170, the city of Rothenburg was founded at the time of the building of Staufer Castle. The centre was the marketplace and St. James Church, the development of the oldest fortification can be seen, the old cellar/old moat and the milk market. Walls and towers were built in the 13th century, preserved are the “White Tower” and the Markus Tower with the Röder Arch. From 1194 to 1254, the representatives of the Staufer dynasty governed the area around Rothenburg, around this time, the Order of St. John and other orders were founded near St. James Church and a Dominican nunnery. From 1241 to 1242, the Staufer Imperial tax statistics recorded the names of the Jews in Rothenburg, rabbi Meir Ben Baruch of Rothenburg had a great reputation as a jurist in Europe. Most members of the family were arrested and interred by the Nazis and are presumed to have been killed during the Second World War. The family is survived by its last living descendant, Andrew Sandilands Graf von Rothberg, 9th Count of Rothenburg, in 1274, Rothenburg was accorded privileges by King Rudolf of Habsburg as a Free Imperial City. Three famous fairs were established in the city and in the following centuries, the citizens of the city and the Knights of the Hinterland build the Franziskaner Monastery and the Holy Ghost Hospital. The German Order began the building of St. James Church, the Heilig Blut pilgrimage attracted many pilgrims to Rothenburg, at the time one of the 20 largest cities of the Holy Roman Empire. The population was around 5,500 people within the city walls, the Staufer Castle was destroyed by an earthquake in 1356, the St. Blaise chapel is the last remnant today

24.
Wenkbach
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See also, Wenkbach Wenkbach is a village in Hesse, Germany and part of the municipality of Weimar. It is situated 10 km south of Marburg and 20 km north of Gießen, among other buildings in the village worth seeing are the old church in Wenkbach. It is also worth a visit, as are the houses to be found in the old centre of the village

25.
Romanesque architecture
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Romanesque Architecture is an architectural style of medieval Europe characterized by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the date of the Romanesque style, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the late 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style, marked by pointed arches, examples of Romanesque architecture can be found across the continent, making it the first pan-European architectural style since Imperial Roman Architecture. The Romanesque style in England is traditionally referred to as Norman architecture, each building has clearly defined forms, frequently of very regular, symmetrical plan, the overall appearance is one of simplicity when compared with the Gothic buildings that were to follow. The style can be identified right across Europe, despite regional characteristics, Many castles were built during this period, but they are greatly outnumbered by churches. The most significant are the great churches, many of which are still standing, more or less complete. The largest groups of Romanesque survivors are in areas that were less prosperous in subsequent periods, including parts of southern France, northern Spain and rural Italy. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word Romanesque means descended from Roman and was first used in English to designate what are now called Romance languages, Romance language is not degenerated Latin language. Latin language is degenerated Romance language, Romanesque architecture is not debased Roman architecture. Roman architecture is debased Romanesque architecture, the first use in a published work is in William Gunns An Inquiry into the Origin and Influence of Gothic Architecture. The term is now used for the more restricted period from the late 10th to 12th centuries, Many castles exist, the foundations of which date from the Romanesque period. Most have been altered, and many are in ruins. By far the greatest number of surviving Romanesque buildings are churches, the scope of Romanesque architecture Romanesque architecture was the first distinctive style to spread across Europe since the Roman Empire. In the more northern countries Roman building styles and techniques had never been adopted except for official buildings, although the round arch continued in use, the engineering skills required to vault large spaces and build large domes were lost. There was a loss of continuity, particularly apparent in the decline of the formal vocabulary of the Classical Orders. In Rome several great Constantinian basilicas continued in use as an inspiration to later builders, the largest building is the church, the plan of which is distinctly Germanic, having an apse at both ends, an arrangement not generally seen elsewhere. Another feature of the church is its regular proportion, the plan of the crossing tower providing a module for the rest of the plan. These features can both be seen at the Proto-Romanesque St. Michaels Church, Hildesheim, 1001–1030, the style, sometimes called First Romanesque or Lombard Romanesque, is characterised by thick walls, lack of sculpture and the presence of rhythmic ornamental arches known as a Lombard band

26.
Poland
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Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe, situated between the Baltic Sea in the north and two mountain ranges in the south. Bordered by Germany to the west, the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south, Ukraine and Belarus to the east, the total area of Poland is 312,679 square kilometres, making it the 69th largest country in the world and the 9th largest in Europe. With a population of over 38.5 million people, Poland is the 34th most populous country in the world, the 8th most populous country in Europe, Poland is a unitary state divided into 16 administrative subdivisions, and its capital and largest city is Warsaw. Other metropolises include Kraków, Wrocław, Poznań, Gdańsk and Szczecin, the establishment of a Polish state can be traced back to 966, when Mieszko I, ruler of a territory roughly coextensive with that of present-day Poland, converted to Christianity. The Kingdom of Poland was founded in 1025, and in 1569 it cemented a political association with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania by signing the Union of Lublin. This union formed the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest and most populous countries of 16th and 17th century Europe, Poland regained its independence in 1918 at the end of World War I, reconstituting much of its historical territory as the Second Polish Republic. In September 1939, World War II started with the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, followed thereafter by invasion by the Soviet Union. More than six million Polish citizens died in the war, after the war, Polands borders were shifted westwards under the terms of the Potsdam Conference. With the backing of the Soviet Union, a communist puppet government was formed, and after a referendum in 1946. During the Revolutions of 1989 Polands Communist government was overthrown and Poland adopted a new constitution establishing itself as a democracy, informally called the Third Polish Republic. Since the early 1990s, when the transition to a primarily market-based economy began, Poland has achieved a high ranking on the Human Development Index. Poland is a country, which was categorised by the World Bank as having a high-income economy. Furthermore, it is visited by approximately 16 million tourists every year, Poland is the eighth largest economy in the European Union and was the 6th fastest growing economy on the continent between 2010 and 2015. According to the Global Peace Index for 2014, Poland is ranked 19th in the list of the safest countries in the world to live in. The origin of the name Poland derives from a West Slavic tribe of Polans that inhabited the Warta River basin of the historic Greater Poland region in the 8th century, the origin of the name Polanie itself derives from the western Slavic word pole. In some foreign languages such as Hungarian, Lithuanian, Persian and Turkish the exonym for Poland is Lechites, historians have postulated that throughout Late Antiquity, many distinct ethnic groups populated the regions of what is now Poland. The most famous archaeological find from the prehistory and protohistory of Poland is the Biskupin fortified settlement, dating from the Lusatian culture of the early Iron Age, the Slavic groups who would form Poland migrated to these areas in the second half of the 5th century AD. With the Baptism of Poland the Polish rulers accepted Christianity and the authority of the Roman Church

27.
Poles
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The Poles are a nation and West Slavic ethnic group native to Poland who share a common ancestry, culture, history and are native speakers of the Polish language. The population of Poles in Poland is estimated at 37,394,000 out of a population of 38,538,000. Polands population inhabits several historic regions, including Greater Poland, Lesser Poland, Mazovia, Silesia, Pomerania, Kuyavia, Warmia, Masuria, a wide-ranging Polish diaspora exists throughout Europe, the Americas and in Australasia. Today the largest urban concentration of Poles is the Katowice urban agglomeration of 2.7 million inhabitants, Poland was also for centuries a refuge for many Jews from all over Europe, a large number emigrated in the twentieth century to Israel. Several prominent Israeli statesmen were born in Poland, including Israels founder David Ben-Gurion, former President of Israel Shimon Peres, the Slavic people have been in the territory of modern Poland for over 1500 years. In the 9th and 10th centuries the tribes gave rise to developed regions along the upper Vistula, the last tribal undertaking resulted in the 10th century in a lasting political structure and state, Poland, one of the West Slavic nations. After 1945 the so-called autochthonous or aboriginal school of Polish prehistory received official backing in Poland, Polish people are the sixth largest national group in the European Union. Estimates vary depending on source, though available data suggest a number of around 60 million people worldwide. There are almost 38 million Poles in Poland alone, there are also Polish minorities in the surrounding countries including Germany, and indigenous minorities in the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Ukraine, and Belarus. There are some smaller indigenous minorities in nearby countries such as Moldova, the term Polonia is usually used in Poland to refer to people of Polish origin who live outside Polish borders, officially estimated at around 10 to 20 million. There is a notable Polish diaspora in the United States, Brazil, France has a historic relationship with Poland and has a relatively large Polish-descendant population. Poles have lived in France since the 18th century, in the early 20th century, over a million Polish people settled in France, mostly during world wars, among them Polish émigrés fleeing either Nazi occupation or later Soviet rule. In the United States, a significant number of Polish immigrants settled in Chicago, Ohio, Detroit, New York City, Orlando, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, the highest concentration of Polish Americans in a single New England municipality is in New Britain, Connecticut. The majority of Polish Canadians have arrived in Canada since World War II, the number of Polish immigrants increased between 1945 and 1970, and again after the end of Communism in Poland in 1989. In Brazil the majority of Polish immigrants settled in Paraná State, smaller, but significant numbers settled in the states of Rio Grande do Sul, Espírito Santo and São Paulo. The city of Curitiba has the second largest Polish diaspora in the world and Polish music, dishes and it is estimated that over half a million Polish people have come to work in the United Kingdom from Poland. Since 2011, Poles have been able to work throughout the EU and not just in the United Kingdom, Ireland. The Polish community in Norway has increased substantially and has grown to a number of 120,000

28.
Voivode
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Voivode is an Eastern European title that originally denoted the principal commander of a military force. It derives from the word vojevoda, which in early Slavic meant the bellidux, i. e. the military commander of an area, in Byzantine times it referred to mainly military commanders of Slavic populations, especially in the Balkans. In medieval Serbia it meant an official and - before the Ottoman conquest in the 15th century - the commander of a military area. During Ottoman times, Voivode was the title borne by the ruler of a province, whose powers included the administration, security, the same title was borne by the Ottoman official who oversaw the “Chora Metzovo” each time. The word gradually came to denote the governor of a province, the territory ruled or administered by a voivode is known in English as a voivodeship. In the English language, the title is translated as duke or prince. In Eastern European terminology, the rank of a voivode is considered equal of that of a German Herzog, a voivode was often considered to be an assistant of the Knyaz. During military actions the voivode was in charge of an army that consisted of the local population, the voj, while the knyaz had its own regular military formation. As of 2016 in Poland the term means the centrally-appointed governor of a Polish province or voivodeship. The Polish title is rendered in English as palatine or prince palatine. Other similar titles include Margrave, Governor-General, and others, with the expansion of the Russian Empire the title of voivode was superseded by namestnik. Later, voivode denoted the highest military rank in the principalities of Montenegro and Serbia, in the Romanian medieval principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, voievode became part of the official titulature of the sovereign prince, showing his right to lead the entire army. Voivode or vajda was also the title of the Hungarian governors of Transylvania in the Middle Ages, baida was a title of a Ruthenian nobleman and Cossack leader Dmytro Vyshnevetsky. Similarly, the leaders in the Balkans were called voivodes. The term derives from Slavic voi or vojsko + vodi, the word has developed to take various forms in the modern Slavic languages, such as vojvoda, wojewoda, воевода, войвода or воевода, воєвода, vévoda and војвода. It has also borrowed into some non-Slavic languages, taking such forms as voievod, vajda. Voivode is also related to state such as Vojvodina, Polish provinces voivodeship. For this reason, the Slavic terms are translated as duke

29.
Sieciech
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Sieciech was a medieval Polish magnate and statesman. All information about Sieciech has come down from the chronicler Gallus Anonymus and he was a count palatine at the court of duke Władysław I Herman of Poland. Though the exact dates of his birth and death are unknown, during his time as count, Sieciech was the de facto ruler of Poland. He wielded such extensive authority throughout the realm that he minted his own coins. According to Gallus Anonymus, Sieciech ruled heavy-handedly and his alleged despotic conduct resulted in a number of nobles being forced to leave the country. Sieciech is credited with ordering the poisoning of Boleslaw IIs son and he is also thought to have attempted to rid himself of the two sons of Władysław I Herman in attempt to gain the throne. Sieciech is known to have founded the Romanesque Saint Andrews church in Cracow, Sieciech made a large number of enemies among the Polish nobility. The disgruntled nobles sought to limit his influence by proposing that the country should be divided between Władysław I Herman and his sons Zbigniew and Boleslaw III Wrymouth and his influence began to wane when the sons of Władysław I Herman demanded to be granted their own districts. They also demanded that Sieciech be removed from positions of influence and their wishes were granted when in 1100 Sieciech was stripped of his land and titles by Wladyslaw I Herman and banished from the country. According to Gallus Anonymus Sieciech managed to return to Poland before his death, the town of Sieciechów, judging by Gallus, was named after Sieciech

30.
First Mongol invasion of Poland
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The first invasions intention was to secure the flank of the main Mongolian army attacking the Kingdom of Hungary. The Mongols neutralized any potential help to King Bela being provided by the Poles, the Mongols invaded Europe with three armies. One of the three armies was tasked with distracting Poland, before joining the main Mongol force invading Hungary and that army, under Baidar, Kadan and Orda Khan, began scouting operations in late 1240. Mongol tumen, moving from recently conquered Volodymyr-Volynskyi in Kievan Rus, first sacked Lublin, around this time, their forces split. Ordas forces devastated central Poland, moving to Wolbórz and as far north as Łęczyca, before turning south and heading via Sieradz towards Wrocław. Baidar and Kadan ravaged the southern part of Poland, moving to Chmielnik, Kraków, Bytom, Opole and finally, Legnica, before leaving Polish lands heading west and south. Baidar and Kadan on 13 February defeated a Polish army under the voivode of Kraków, Włodzimierz, on 18 March they defeated another Polish army with units from Kraków and Sandomierz at the battle of Chmielnik. Panic spread through the Polish lands, and the citizens abandoned Kraków, in the meantime, one of the most powerful contemporary Dukes of Poland, and Duke of Silesia, Henry II the Pious, gathered his forces and allies around Legnica. Henry, in order to more forces, even sacrificed one of the largest towns of Silesia, Wrocław. Henry was also waiting for Wenceslaus I of Bohemia, his brother-in-law, while considering whether to besiege Wrocław, Baidar and Kadan received reports that the Bohemians were days away with a large army. The Mongols turned from Wrocław, not finishing the siege, in order to intercept Henrys forces before the European armies could meet, the Mongols caught up with Henry near Legnica at Legnickie Pole, known in German as Wahlstatt. Henry, despite having rough parity in numbers and a strategy, was defeated at Legnica on April 9 after the Mongols caused confusion in the Polish forces. The Mongols did not take Legnica castle, but had a free rein to pillage and plunder Silesia, the Mongols avoided the Bohemian forces, but defeated the Hungarians in the Battle of Mohi. There were also later, larger Mongol invasions of Poland, in 1254 or 1255, Daniel of Galicia revolted against the Mongol rule. He repelled the initial Mongol assault under Ordas son Quremsa, in 1259, the Mongols returned under the new command of Burundai. According to some sources, Daniel fled to Poland leaving his son and he may have hidden in the castle of Galicia instead. The Mongols needed to secure Polands aid to Daniel and war booty to feed the demand of their soldiers, lithuanians also attacked Smolensk and menaced Torzhok, tributaries of the Golden Horde, in c. The Mongols sent an expedition into Lithuania for this

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Siege
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A siege is a military blockade of a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by attrition or assault. This derives from sedere, Latin for to sit, Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict characterized by one party holding a strong, static defensive position. Consequently, an opportunity for negotiation between combatants is not uncommon, as proximity and fluctuating advantage can encourage diplomacy, a siege occurs when an attacker encounters a city or fortress that cannot be easily taken by direct assault and refuses to surrender. Failing a military outcome, sieges can often be decided by starvation, thirst, or disease and this form of siege, though, can take many months or even years, depending upon the size of the stores of food the fortified position holds. During the process of circumvallation, the force can be set upon by another force of enemies due to the lengthy amount of time required to starve a position. During the Warring States era of ancient China, there is textual and archaeological evidence of prolonged sieges and siege machinery used against the defenders of city walls. Siege machinery was also a tradition of the ancient Greco-Roman world, during the Renaissance and the early modern period, siege warfare dominated the conduct of war in Europe. Leonardo da Vinci gained as much of his renown from the design of fortifications as from his artwork, Medieval campaigns were generally designed around a succession of sieges. In the Napoleonic era, increasing use of more powerful cannon reduced the value of fortifications. In the 20th century, the significance of the classical siege declined, with the advent of mobile warfare, a single fortified stronghold is no longer as decisive as it once was. Modern sieges are more commonly the result of smaller hostage, militant, the Assyrians deployed large labour forces to build new palaces, temples, and defensive walls. Some settlements in the Indus Valley Civilization were also fortified, by about 3500 BC, hundreds of small farming villages dotted the Indus River floodplain. Many of these settlements had fortifications and planned streets, mundigak in present-day south-east Afghanistan has defensive walls and square bastions of sun-dried bricks. City walls and fortifications were essential for the defence of the first cities in the ancient Near East, the walls were built of mudbricks, stone, wood, or a combination of these materials, depending on local availability. They may also have served the purpose of showing presumptive enemies the might of the kingdom. The great walls surrounding the Sumerian city of Uruk gained a widespread reputation, the walls were 9.5 km in length, and up to 12 m in height. Later, the walls of Babylon, reinforced by towers, moats, in Anatolia, the Hittites built massive stone walls around their cities atop hillsides, taking advantage of the terrain. In Shang Dynasty China, at the site of Ao, large walls were erected in the 15th century BC that had dimensions of 20 m in width at the base and enclosed an area of some 2,100 yards squared

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Gothic architecture
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Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished in Europe during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture and its characteristics include the pointed arch, the ribbed vault and the flying buttress. Gothic architecture is most familiar as the architecture of many of the cathedrals, abbeys. It is also the architecture of many castles, palaces, town halls, guild halls, universities and to a less prominent extent, private dwellings, for this reason a study of Gothic architecture is largely a study of cathedrals and churches. A series of Gothic revivals began in mid-18th-century England, spread through 19th-century Europe and continued, largely for ecclesiastical and university structures, the term Gothic architecture originated as a pejorative description. Hence, François Rabelais, also of the 16th century, imagines an inscription over the door of his utopian Abbey of Thélème, Here enter no hypocrites, slipping in a slighting reference to Gotz and Ostrogotz. Authorities such as Christopher Wren lent their aid in deprecating the old medieval style, the Company disapproved of several of these new manners, which are defective and which belong for the most part to the Gothic. Gothic architecture is the architecture of the medieval period, characterised by use of the pointed arch. As an architectural style, Gothic developed primarily in ecclesiastical architecture, the greatest number of surviving Gothic buildings are churches. The Gothic style is most particularly associated with the cathedrals of Northern France. At the end of the 12th century, Europe was divided into a multitude of city states, norway came under the influence of England, while the other Scandinavian countries and Poland were influenced by trading contacts with the Hanseatic League. Angevin kings brought the Gothic tradition from France to Southern Italy, throughout Europe at this time there was a rapid growth in trade and an associated growth in towns. Germany and the Lowlands had large flourishing towns that grew in comparative peace, in trade and competition with other, or united for mutual weal. Civic building was of importance to these towns as a sign of wealth. England and France remained largely feudal and produced grand domestic architecture for their kings, dukes and bishops, the Catholic Church prevailed across Europe at this time, influencing not only faith but also wealth and power. Bishops were appointed by the lords and they often ruled as virtual princes over large estates. The early Medieval periods had seen a growth in monasticism, with several different orders being prevalent. Foremost were the Benedictines whose great abbey churches vastly outnumbered any others in France, a part of their influence was that towns developed around them and they became centers of culture, learning and commerce

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Lisbon Cathedral
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The Lisbon Cathedral, often called simple the Sé, is a Roman Catholic church located in Lisbon, Portugal. The oldest church in the city is the see of the Archdiocese of Lisbon, since the beginning of the construction of the cathedral, in the year 1147, the building has been modified several times and survived many earthquakes. It is nowadays a mix of different architectural styles and it has been classified as a National Monument since 1910. Lisbon has been the seat of a bishopric since the 4th century AD, in the year 1147, the city was reconquered by an army composed of Portuguese soldiers led by King Afonso Henriques and North European crusaders taking part on the Second Crusade. An English crusader named Gilbert of Hastings was placed as bishop, and this first building was completed between 1147 and the first decades of the 13th century in Late Romanesque style. At that time the relics of St Vincent of Saragossa, patron saint of Lisbon, were brought to the cathedral from Southern Portugal. In 1498, Queen Eleanor of Viseu founded the Irmandade de Invocação a Nossa Senhora da Misericórdia de Lisboa in one of the chapels of the cloister of the cathedral. This brotherhood evolved into the Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa, earthquakes have always been a problem for Lisbon and its cathedral. During the 14th and 16th centuries there were several of them, but the worst of all was the 1755 Lisbon earthquake, the cloisters and many chapels were also ruined by the quake and the fire that followed. The cathedral was rebuilt and, in the beginning of the 20th century, was given the appearance that it has today after a profound renovation. In recent years the central courtyard of the cloister has been excavated and shows signs of the Roman, Arab, Lisbon cathedral is a Latin cross building with three aisles, a transept and a main chapel surrounded by an ambulatory. The church is connected with a cloister on the Eastern side, the main façade of the cathedral looks like a fortress, with two towers flanking the entrance and crenellations over the walls. This menacing appearance, also seen in other Portuguese cathedrals of the time, is a relic from the Reconquista period, when the cathedral could be used as a base to attack the enemy during a siege. From its first building period, Lisbon cathedral has preserved the West façade with a window, the main portal, the North lateral portal. The portals have interesting sculptured capitals with Romanesque motifs, the nave is covered by barrel vaulting and has an upper, arched gallery. Light gets in through the windows of the West façade and transept. The general plan of the cathedral is similar to that of the Old Cathedral of Coimbra. One of the chapels of the ambulatory has an interesting Romanesque iron gate, at the end of the 13th century King Dinis of Portugal ordered the construction of a cloister in Gothic style, which became severely damaged by the 1755 earthquake

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Old Cathedral of Coimbra
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The Old Cathedral of Coimbra is a Romanesque Roman Catholic building in Portugal. Construction of the Sé Velha began some time after the Battle of Ourique, the first Count of Coimbra, the Mozarab Sisnando Davides, is buried in the cathedral. Coimbra is the seat of a bishopric since the 5th century, after neighbouring Conimbriga was invaded, almost nothing is known of the cathedrals that preceded the Sé Velha in Coimbra. In 1139, after the Battle of Ourique, King Afonso Henriques decided to finance the building of a new cathedral, the definitive impulse to the project was given by Bishop Miguel Salomão, who helped pay for the works. In 1185, King Sancho I, second King of Portugal, was crowned in the new cathedral, the basic building was finished in the first decades of the 13th century, even though the cloisters were begun only in 1218, during the reign of King Afonso II. The project of the Romanesque cathedral is attributed to Master Robert, the works were supervised by Master Bernard, possibly also French, who was succeeded by Master Soeiro, an architect active in other churches around the Diocese of Porto. In the 16th century there were additions to the cathedral. The basic architecture and structure of the Romanesque building was, nevertheless, Coimbra Cathedral is the only one of the Portuguese Romanesque cathedrals from the Reconquista times to have survived relatively intact up to the present. The cathedrals of Porto, Braga, Lisbon and others have been extensively remodelled later, from the outside, Coimbras old cathedral looks like a small fortress, with its high, crenellated walls harbouring few, narrow windows. This menacing appearance is explained by the belligerent times in which it was built, there is a tower-like structure in the middle of the western façade with a portal and a similar-looking upper window. Both portal and window are decorated with Romanesque motifs of Arabic. The façade is reinforced by buttresses at the corners that compensate for the angle of the terrain. The north façade has a remarkable, although eroded, Renaissance-style portal called the Porta Especiosa, the three-storey portal was built in the 1530s by French sculptor João de Ruão. Over the transept there is a Romanesque lantern-tower with some Baroque details, the interior of the cathedral has a nave with two aisles, a small transept, and an eastern apse with three chapels. The nave is covered by barrel vaulting and the aisles by groin vaults. The nave has an upper storey, a triforium, that could accommodate more mass attendants in the tribunes if needed. All columns of the interior have decorated capitals, mainly with vegetable motifs, the windows of the lantern-tower and the big window in the west facade are the main sources of natural light of the cathedral. The cloister, built during the reign of Afonso II, is a work of the transition between Romanesque and Gothic, each of the Gothic pointed arches that face the courtyard encompass two twin round arches in Romanesque style